The New Arrivals
by Jess-Emrys-BLack
Summary: Five girls mysteriously appear in a strange forest, filled with strange creatures. They could never have expected what would unfold. Legolas, Gimli, Twins, Evilness, slight comedic attributes.
1. Chapter 1: Of confusion and trees

**Chapter 1: **Of confusion and trees.

A small fawn grazed lazily in a small normal forest clearing when a bright flash of light startled it into flight. It seemed the 'normal' clearing was no longer normal and now instead of a fawn there were five young girls.

"WHAT THE F JUST HAPPENED!" one of the girls yelled; she had short dark brown hair and deep brown eyes

"I don't know!" another snapped back; she had lighter brown hair, that was a bit longer then the first girls

"Where are we?" asked a girl with black hair that reached just passed her shoulders.

"In a forest, Susan dearest; a forest clearing" a girl with shoulder length blond hair and grey-blue eyes said

"Yes Jess, we know that!" the first girl snapped

"Then why did she ask, Melinda darling?" Jess asked confused

"Because… never mind!"

"Umm, guys what are we going to do?" the last girl asked she was the shortest in the group and had long brown hair.

"Well Jackie sweetie, we could sit here like damsels in distress or get up and start walking. I propose the later." Jess said

"Jess you read too much fantasy stories for your own good!" Melinda exclaimed "And I vote option one, there's no way I'm going to wonder around in some strange woods! Who knows what bugs and spiders live here! And walking is NOT my thing nether is dirt, bugs, spiders, or anything of that sort!"

"I agree with Mel, wouldn't it be better to stay here, someone is sure to come looking for us or… something, so if we stay here we're more likely to be found… right?" the second girl said

"I don't know Fern," Jess said, "What if no-one CAN find us? It's not like we're anywhere near any place we know. And if we stay here we have less chance of finding any civilization or food or water or any other essentials."

"Maybe you're right" Fern said, "What do you think, Jackie, Susan?"

"Umm…I think it would be best to look for a town or something," Jackie said and Susan agreed.

"Okay which way do we go?" Fern asked

"Well, as we don't know where we are it doesn't really matter! Well, that is as long as we don't start walking in circles!" Jess exclaimed

"Okay," Fern said and started leading them off

Jess walked at the back of the group taking the time to look closer at the others: "Umm, guys" Jess said after a moment

"Yeah?"

"Well do any of you feel slightly strange?"

"Um, yeah now that you mention it I do, why?"

"Why don't you touch your ears…?" Jess suggested

"OH MY F GOD! MY EARS ARE POINTY!" Mel exclaimed

"How the Hell is this possible?" Fern asked, shocked as she held a hand to her ear and watched Jackie who was jumping up and down excitedly

"This is so absolutely awesome!" Jackie exclaimed

"Umm…Susan are you okay?" Jess asked as she saw Susan sit down heavily.

"Ah… I think so… How can you be so calm?" Susan demanded

"Oh, I'm still in shock" Jess said calmly, perfectly serious

"No, you're insane!" Mel said

"Yes, that too" Jess said, still very serious

"Umm…so do you guys want to keep going or stop here for a rest?" Fern asked

"Keep going!" Jess said at the same time Mel cried "REST!"

* * *

They ended up having a small rest before continuing on their way until they reached a large river where they decided to stop for the night. 

"Alright, who can remember outdoor ed? Setting up camp…?" Fern said, looking around vaguely.

"Well no tents under trees…away from river," Jackie said, counting points on her fingers.

"WE DON'T HAVE ANY TENTS!" Mel shouted interrupting her. .

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, yeah," she said.

"We need shelter," Susan suggested.

"I don't see any buildings…" Mel said, looking around trying to focus on their surroundings.

"I can see some mountains in the distance…" Fern said, gazing beyond her.

"You mean those big grey blurry things," Mel looked again. "Hey, I can see the mountains now! My eyesight is improving! I can see what you guys see…"

"Oh, so you can see that big tree coming towards us…?"Jess said.

"Umm no…ahhhhhhhh there's a freaking moving tree!" Mel screamed

"Duh! Isn't that what I just said? You never listen to me!" Jess sighed, as she watched the tree come closer curiously. The others looked up at her words and began screaming when they too saw it.

While Jess watched the tree come closer the others were running away, though when Mel noticed Jess wasn't following she ran back, grabbed Jess's arm and started running away again.

"Hey! Ow! What's the rush?" Jess asked stumbling as she was pulled along "I was just looking I mean I've never seen a walking tree before,"

"Yes and hopefully never again!" Mel cried as they caught up to the others "DON'T STOP!" Mel cried as she saw Jess stop running, "THAT…THAT THING COULD STILL BE COMING!"

"Well I can't see it anymore and something as big as a walking, let alone running, tree would be hard to miss. Besides I HATE running! Why don't we try walking if you're still so interested in getting away from here?"

"Ok, Ok walking it is," Mel said, still nervous about getting away from that thing. "Come on then, let's go!" she finished pulling on Jess's arms and glancing nervously behind her.

The others stood in front of them, breathing heavily, eyes wide.

"What is going on?" Fern asked of no-one in particular.

"What was that thing?" Jackie asked

"A tree," was Jess's brilliant suggestion

"Of course!" Mel exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air, "it was a tree! Just your regular garden variety freaking walking tree!"

"Yes, but it's still a tree," Jess said with a frown

"What is wrong with you? We are in the middle of no-where with freaking pointy ears and walking trees! Not to mention the fact that we don't know how we got here!"

* * *

Both Mel and Jess had points, and they got weaker and weaker as their 'discussion' continued. The others, as usual, ignored their ranting and sat down to discuss their situation. 

"We need to figure out how we got here, so then we can find our way back," Fern said, taking charge. "Can anyone remember where or what they were doing before we where, well, here?"

"I can't really remember just images of us standing together. I think we were standing, maybe..." Susan said, trying to help.

"I remember talking about Buffy…"Jackie said.

"What?" Susan said, curious suddenly.

"I swear I was,"

"Yeah," Fern agreed.

"Hmm?" Susan said, but was quickly interrupted by Mel and Jess joining their conversation.

"We've decided to head that away," Mel announced, pointing.

Susan sighed as they all began to walk in that direction, as the light began to wane.

"Where are we going?" Fern asked.

"Away from these big trees," Jess said, "Towards a river, if we find one again,"

* * *

They walked almost in complete silence, occasionally glancing nervously at the trees around them. The only one making any noise was Mel, who was rambling rather incoherently about nothing in particular. 

"Mel shut up!" Jess hissed suddenly as they were approaching a clearing.

"Do you hear something?" Mel asked suddenly getting very quiet.

"Nope, you're just driving me insane," Mel glared at Jess.

"If you keep on making so much noise something will hear us!" Susan whispered angrily.

* * *

The clearing was much larger then first thought and was bordered by a small stream escaping from in the rock face not far from it. 

"That is way too much running for one day," Mel said as she realized they were close to the very mountains she had had trouble seeing before.

Realizing how thirsty and tired she was she ran to the stream and thirstily drank handfuls of water from it. The others watched her cautiously, knowing Mel would probably be able to identify if there were any impurities in the water.

"Very nice, must be where they get bottled water from,"

"Sometimes you can be such a Crunchie Mel, you know dark on the outside blond on the inside," Jess laughed as the other girls ran to the stream.

"It's almost dark," Fern said, "We need to set up some kind of shelter before it gets dark. We also need food," she looked at the stream and raised an eyebrow, "Fish?"

"Nothing to catch or cook it with, and eww," Mel said.

"I'll see if I can find some berries or something while you guys set up the shelter," Jackie suggested.

"It feels like it's going to rain," Mel said, as she watched the others set up a makeshift shelter under the trees.

They lay upon the grass and stared up at the stars through the gaps in the delicately placed leaf-covered branches above their heads. Then it began to rain.

"Bloody brilliant," Jess muttered.

"Now this is f depressing," Mel said, as they began to get drenched.

* * *

A/N: This story is by my friend Mel (found under favourites) and I, based upon us, our friends and slightly insane imagination.

Keep watching this space for misadventures of other LOTR characters (which frequently come up when we were planning our story.)


	2. Chapter 2: A slight wardrobe change

This chapter is dedicated to 'Just Me' our very first reviewer!

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Chapter 2: A slight wardrobe change; with oomph.**

The sunlight of the next morning stung their eyes as they slowly awoke. Jackie began to stand, "I feel all stiff and heavy," she announced as she strained to stand up.

"And I'm cold!" Fern said

"So am I!" Susan said

"Jackie you look short, yet tall…"Mel said groggily, still lying on her stomach.

"Well you look like an idiot in that stupid dress!" Jackie yelled angrily.

Mel stood up quickly and looked down at herself "What?"

Mel was wearing a long flowing gown of green, with silver trim; she stared at it open mouthed and took a step. The dress moved with her step. She cried out and all turned to look at her.

"What are you wearing…?" Fern began to ask.

Mel giggled, clasping her skirts, "I feel swishy, oh so swishy, I feel swishy and whishy and…hey!"

"What?" Susan asked, looking at Mel dance around.

"I've got these funny leather things on my arms!"

"Maybe they have something to do with the arrows on your back?" Fern suggested.

"Who drew arrows on my back?"

"No, you've got weapons, arrows, in a holder on your back! How on earth…?"

Mel reached behind herself and pulled an arrow out of the quiver that was strapped to her back.

"Ok, I'm officially confused," she said, looking at the arrow in her hand. She looked around at the others and her mouth fell open. "And why the hell is Fern wearing pink?"

The others, preoccupied with Mel's startling transformation and subsequent antics hadn't noticed that they too had mysteriously changed into new garments, much grander then their previous ones, and quite different.

While Mel wore a long green gown, layered with light material which flowed off her body; Susan and Fern both wore shorter dresses, cut off at the knees, of a much thicker material, composing of only one layer, perhaps a second unnoticeable slip, but nothing that accentuated the dress. Fern's was a pale pink, so pale Mel almost mistook it for white upon first glance, and then noticed that it was defiantly pink; it was decorated with pink sequins that caught the light perfectly, and had soft ribbon laces at the back. Susan's, of equal length and material, was a rustic red, with long wide sleeves, that flowed past her hands. Mel wondered how she hadn't noticed it previously.

Jackie and Jess were clothed differently. Each wore trousers and tunics of differing colours. Jess's tunic was a deep blue with silver inlay, whilst Jackie's was green and blue. Jessie had a leather armour top under her tunic and Jackie had chain mail.

"This is really heavy," was all Jackie said as she investigated the chain mail.

"This is really freaky," Susan said, meaning the wardrobe change. "And really cold…"

Fern nodded, shaking, as she too was cold "Yeah I'm freezing!"

"Why do I have arrows on my back?" Mel said after a moment.

"Maybe for that bow, lying next to where you slept," Fern suggested.

"Ahhh… ok that makes sense," Mel said as she picked up the bow and attempted to use it, failing miserably as the arrow fell from its place as soon as Mel attempted to pull the string back. Jackie laughed hysterically at her pitiful attempt; the others just shook their heads.

"I MEANT to do that!" Mel snapped, highly affronted. She loaded the arrow again and held it tight as she tried to pull the string back. "Damn, this is really hard!" she whined. Jess helped her pull it back, and then Mel released it; it flew straight into the ground.

"Am I the only one that finds this all a bit strange?" Susan demanded of the group as Jackie discovered a scabbard on her belt. Everyone turned to face Susan. "I mean seriously, we've just been transported to the middle of no-where, we don't remember what we were doing before we came here, we saw WALKING TREES and now we have mysteriously changed clothes and been given ancient WEAPONS!"

Fern ran to Susan and embraced her, "It's alright Susie, we'll be ok. We're going find our way out of here…" she said, attempting to comfort the girl, though she herself did not feel so confident in her words.

Jackie dragged a sword out from behind a tree; its decoration matched that of her scabbard and she proclaimed it to be hers.

"What about me, don't I get a weapon?" Susan complained, still upset with all that had gone on today and yesterday.

Jackie looked over at the place where Susan had slept, "What about that stick thingy over there, that could be your weapon,"

"Oh great, you get a sword and Mel gets a bow and I get a stick!" she said as she picked it up.

Jess raised an eyebrow and sat up from where she lay upon a pile of clothes, "It's called a glaive, hello!"

Susan examined the glaive, looking at the two strange axe heads on each end.

* * *

"Alright," Fern said, taking charge again, "we need to concentrate for a moment; figure out why these things are happening-what the hell is happening. We've all been reacting very strangely to this situation. We need to remember that we are lost in a completely unknown place that we don't remember how we even got here. Or why we are even here. We should be on our guard girls,"

"Now I'm scared," Mel said.

Susan and Fern were visibly shivering; perhaps it was due to the cold they felt.

"So can we like get going, 'cause Suze and I are freezing!" Fern said.

"We defiantly need to keep moving, looking for a town," Jessie declared.

Everyone agreed and prepared to leave; each figuring out a way in which to carry their weapons. Mel carried her bow, as did Susan with her glaive which she had christened 'stick' as she was having trouble remembering the name. Jackie attempted to holster her sword, but gave up and decided to drag it around with her. Jess held the pile of clothes in her arms, attracting the attention of Mel, who raised an eyebrow. Fern discovered two knives hidden in her boots as she was checking to see if she needed to tie them.

"What am I, a chef? A well dressed chef who needs to cook at a moments notice?"

"Can we get moving? It's cold!" Susan complained, again.

"Which way do we go?" Jackie asked.

"Which way did we come from?" Mel asked.

"Your left," Jess told her. "Since towns tend to be built on rivers I think we should follow the stream along,"

"That's an idea, lets hope it warms up around here," Susan said.

"Do you guys want to grab your cloaks first?" Jess suddenly asked, holding out the pile of clothes in her arms. The others turned to stare at her. "What?"

"WHAT? You've been holding cloaks all this time, as me and Fern were complaining about how cold we were?" Susan yelled.

"You never asked for them," was Jess's excuse. Fern and Susan looked murderous, so Jess hid behind Mel for the moment. Mel took the cloaks off her and everyone took one.

"They're all different, how are we meant to know which belongs to who? I presume they do at least," Jackie said, looking at the cloaks everyone had grabbed and Susan and Fern had hurriedly tried on. Each cloak was a differently colour, and there were three distinct styles. Jackie's, Fern's and Susan's were all the same style, though in varying colours: the only real difference was that Jackie's was knee length and the others had long cloaks; Fern's was a pale pink like her dress, Susan's was such a deep purple that it was almost black and Jackie's was a simple brown. Each had a small hood, which just covered the head. Jess's cloak was green with silver trim, of the same material of the others: thick and warm, was long and had a hood that was big enough to cast a shadow on her face. Mel's was made of a similar material to her dress with a few layers, it was a silver grey colour, with the innermost layer being white, and this too was long.

"Everyone seems to have chosen the right cloak, how strange," Susan said, as she noticed the cloaks all fitted the person who grabbed it perfectly.

* * *

A/N

**Important: This is set after the LOTR, though elves have never left (cause things would be way less fun if they did), orcs and evil creatures still roam, though less powerfully, and there are still leaders out there…somewhere. So if you like this in an AU Lord of the Rings. **

"I feel swishy, oh so swishy, I feel swishy and whishy and…hey" is based on a quote from West Side story (I feel pretty, oh so pretty, I feel pretty and witty and gay!) Meaning happy dude

Everyones clothing is inspired by characters in the film/book (mostly visuals from the film), and they will wear different styles and stuff…running around in a Galadriel inspired outfit is very difficult.

_Thank you, to our marvellous reviewers: FernTimberlake (think very hard on THAT name, yes it IS real) and Just Me. _

**OK EVERYONE, LISTEN UP! (or whatever) WE WILL ONLY UPDATE THE NEXT CHAPTER IF WE RECEIVE FIVE MORE REVIEWS! SO ALL OF YOU JUST READING…PLEASE REVIEW!**

**R&R!**


	3. Chapter 3: The opposite of freedom

Yet again, dedicated to wonderful reviewer "Just Me", and our dear reviewer Fern, (sound familiar) who really needs to read AND REVIEW some more of this wonderful epic. Please enjoy:

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Chapter 3: The opposite of freedom.

"We should probably leave now," Jackie suggested.

"Hopefully we won't run into anymore walking trees," Mel said.

"Aww, now you've gone and jinxed it," Jackie complained just moments before an arrow soared into the tree behind her; Jackie jumped high into the air.

Everyone but Jess turned to Mel. "What? I suck at archery. I'm standing five metres away from you; my record to date is ten centimetres. It wasn't me!"

Jess was looking at the arrow embedded in the tree. "This looks different to Mel's," she turned around, looking into the trees, trying to figure out where it came from.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Jackie said, suddenly looking into the trees behind Fern. "We need to get out of here," she said as two arrows zoomed out of the bushes behind Fern, landing either side of Mel, one snagging her dress. Mel shrieked and hurriedly pulled the arrow from her dress, so she could escape if needed.

Susan tightened her grip on her glaive as Jess went to grab Mel's hand.

"Get down!" Jackie shrieked eyes wide and unfocused. Everyone sensed a power in her words and obeyed; just moments before a barrage of arrows were fired over their heads.

A force of ghastly human-esque creatures came barging into the clearing, bows and swords in grotesque hand. Susan and Mel shrieked while Fern began to hyperventilate. Jackie pulled Susan and Fern up, getting them to run. She looked helplessly over at Jess and Mel, a distance away and almost surrounded by the creatures.

"Run!" Jess screamed to them as she looked for a way for her and Mel to escape. They were surrounded, their only way out was through the creatures, to fight; something she couldn't see Mel doing at the moment. She looked up into the tree canopy.

"Mel, climb up the tree behind you," she said, quite forcefully.

"I can't," Mel said, looking up and then all around them, at the creatures.

"Mel, go! The trees are really close together behind you; see if you can climb from tree to tree,"

Mel looked hopeful at the idea, but was still concerned, "What about you?"

"I'll be alright," Jess told her as she swallowed hard, "I'll be right behind you," she pulled Mel up and pushed her up onto the lowest branch of the tree. Mel pulled herself up a couple of branches, trying to stop her dress from getting snagged on anything. She quickly looked down and saw Jess throw a rock at the nearest creature, hitting it on the head, its eyes spun as it fell to the ground, Mel almost laughed at the ridiculousness of it, almost, but not quite.

* * *

Jackie was suddenly leading the situation, something she was quite unused to. They were running through the trees, being chased by the creatures. Jackie wished they only had to deal with walking trees. 

"What about Jess and Mel?" Fern yelled from behind her, "We can't just leave them behind!"

"We have to; we can't help them right now. We'll come back when we can!" Jackie didn't want to say what she really thought; 'if we can'. Jackie saw something in the distance, something she really hoped she was not seeing. She stopped in her tracks, forcing the others to stop as well.

"What are you doing Jackie?" Susan demanded as she attempted to pull Jackie forward, "They are right behind us!"

"And right in front of us!" Jackie told them.

"We are in so much trouble right now," Fern concluded.

* * *

Jess ducked and dodged the creatures' attacks, every now and again glancing up into the tree where Mel was still climbing. Mel was perhaps the fastest of them running on level ground, but Jess hadn't liked her chances having to duck and dodge-especially in the dress she wore. Jess had hoped she would be able to hide once she got past the creatures, they were amazingly fast though, and chased her as she ran into the trees. She'd hoped the creatures would all follow her, but to her dismay many stayed behind and watched Mel's attempts to climb the tree.

* * *

Jackie had no idea what she should do, no idea that she liked at least. Her grip tightened on the sword she'd managed to drag along as their options narrowed. 

"Guys are you with me?" the others seemed to know what she meant, and held their weapons tightly, though fear and uncertainty was in their eyes.

Jackie went to lift her incredibly heavy sword and failed. She refused to give in as she saw the creatures closing in on them from all sides. She jerked the sword up so quickly that she was unable to prepare for the weight and she fell backwards comically against the ground.

"Jackie, get up, they're almost upon us!" Fern yelled.

A creature was right there, right in front of Jackie; she swung her sword at its legs and it jumped back.

* * *

Susan used her glaive like a staff, not knowing how to use the ends. Each muscle began to ache as she blocked each blow that was directed at her.

* * *

Fern swiped at the air with her knives, inflicting some minor damage, unlike the others, scratching gruesome faces and ripping dirty clothes. She screamed and cringed with every blow she inflicted. If only Fern had known her weapons were 'throwing knives'. A larger creature came upon her, knocking the others out of its way. It approached Fern slowly, Fern attempted to attack it; it stopped her with one hand against her forehead. That's when she was grabbed from behind…

* * *

Mel was having trouble climbing the tree; she kept missing branches and falling back, her skirts constantly got caught on branches, as did her quiver of arrows. The creatures on the ground didn't help much either, as they fired arrows and threw rocks up into the tree. She'd seen Jess disappear into the trees chased by many of the creatures and hadn't seen her since. She didn't know what had happened to the others and was afraid to think about it. 

Another rock hurtled past her head, barely missing her.

"Stop it you freaking maniacs!" she screamed at the creatures. They fired an arrow up at her in reply. "Your aim sucks!" she yelled as the arrow missed.

Mel saw a flash of colour amongst the trees and was able to focus on Jess; surrounded by the creatures, all pointing arrows at her head.

"JESSIE!" Mel screamed, before she did the only thing she could think of doing. She fell.

* * *

Jess looked toward the clearing as she heard Mel call her name; all the creatures surrounding her did the same. She saw Mel fall from the tree and her heart sank as she heard the loud thump of Mel's body slamming into the ground. Jess couldn't imagine that she'd survived such a fall, but refused to give up; realising that her almost captors were not paying attention to her for the moment she ran, planning to head back to the clearing.

* * *

The creature smiled as it watched Fern struggle against her captor. It pulled out its own knife and scratched a mark down her cheek. Fern felt the blood drip down her face, she tried to fight against the pain; she fainted.

* * *

"Fern!" Jackie screamed as she too was captured. She heard a scream louder then her own, Mel's voice, screaming out Jess's name. Then a horrible thud confirmed her worst fears.

* * *

Susan was surrounded, her glaive was being fought over, and she struggled to hold on. She felt the glaive being pulled from her grasp. She gave up as she heard screams around her.

* * *

Mel lay on the ground unmoving. A creature approached slowly. Brushing her hair aside with an arrow it saw her ear, her strange pointy ear. It reacted strangely, communicating this with the others. Then it smiled, Mel saw this through barely open eyes. She sat up quickly, her head throbbing; her arm hurt so much she presumed it was broken. She saw no hope in the creatures terrifying smile. Unless… 

She grabbed her bow with her sore arm and readied an arrow, pulling the string painfully back to her ear as she remembered being taught at some school camp years ago. She pointed it at the smiling one. It stopped smiling. She walked towards it, making it step back; it bumped the creature behind it, which bumped the one behind it and so on.

Mel wondered how long she would have to hold the bow her arm was already shaking.

* * *

Jess ran into the clearing, next to the stream, creatures not far behind. A group was in front of her and she skidded to a halt. The nearest one turned to look at her and picked up its bow; Jess saw something it didn't and pointed behind it, it turned slightly, just as it was knocked roughly into the water by another creature, which landed on top of it. Jess looked for the source of this domino effect and saw Mel, shaking, pointing her arrow at the line of creatures. Jess ran into the trees, aiming to get behind her, when she saw Mel drop the arrow. She stood still, open mouthed, as the creatures captured Mel roughly. Moments later Jess was crash-tackled to the ground and knocked unconscious.

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A/N: Thankyou for staying with us for such a time dear reader, things are starting to get very interesting, are they not? Now, to those of you actually reading this (which means you, 'cause duh,) this is the moment when you click on that button in the corner and give us a review of some description. THANKYOU KIND SOULS, AND, IF YOU AREN'T GOING TO REVIEW: "Mîbo orch!" 

Hmph. Now, as Jess is attached to her computer she WILL KNOW if you don't review and she will track you down and… (We had to blank this out as it would make our rating change immensely. And I think it's not biologically possible.)

Now go on, go review. Blessed be. If you do…….


	4. Chapter 4: The Elfling's

**A/N:** I would like to inform everyone of the fantastic story written by FernTimberlake called **The New Pirate Arrivals**. You should visit it; it features the same cast of girls though in a new setting.

**Dedicated to demee!** And all our other fantastic reviewers which is now a grand total of four!

Queen of Monkey Magic a cookie for your review and Jess will stay safely tied to her seat as long as we continue to get reviews; they seem to calm her.

And now for the next fabulous instalment:

**Chapter 4: Elfling's**

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The prisoners were strange creatures, the lead Urak-hi noticed, tilting his head, watching them. They'd stumbled upon them at dawn, during a hunting trip. Their plan had been quite simple: catch the stupid human children, have some sport in chasing them, then killing would be nice. Instead they had discovered that at least one was an elfling, a rare find; so they decided to capture them instead and go from there. His master would be most happy with the find.

He turned to his second command, "Check the others, see if they are all elflings," he said in the black speech of Mordor.

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Susan looked around at the others, sprawled on the ground. Jess lay unconscious; her head in Mel's lap and Mel leant against a rock, holding her arm. Fern was faint, as she leant against Jackie, whose hands were tied behind her. Susan sat there, depressed, as she realised she was the only able bodied one left. Those strange creatures were standing guard over them; they felt evil to her, she felt incredibly uncomfortable under their gaze. One creature approached her, and grabbed her roughly by her hair, she screamed in pain as he checked her ears before he dropped her and moved onto Fern.

Jackie yelled at the creature as it did the same to Fern and then herself. It then approached Jess, though didn't need to touch her as Melgently brushed Jess's hair aside so the creature could see Jess's ears without hurting her; Mel had been watching what he did to the others and was protecting Jess. The creature sneered at her before turning to another creature; speaking to it in a language that made them all shiver in fear: it was a harsh, evil language that suited the creatures. Though she couldn't understand what they were speaking of, Mel did pick up one word that was used more then once: elfling. This word seemed familiar to her though she didn't know why. The creatures conversed in that horrid language for a time, often glancing at the girls before they walked off, soon returning with reinforcements.

"Up!" one of the creatures demanded harshly," Get up!" Susan stood up straight away and tried to help Fern stand; Jackie also stood, standing on Ferns other side trying to help steady her. Mel shifted Jess's head gently of her lap, before she too stood.

The lead creature nodded to another who swiftly moved forward and grabbed Jess roughly, slinging her over his shoulder.

"You will do as you are told! If any of you try to escape I will kill you and the person next to you! Is this understood?" the lead creature informed them harshly and they nodded in agreement.

The creatures got them to walk in the middle of the group at a fast pace, Mel was soon exhausted and her arm stung badly, but she didn't dare voice a complaint. Fern wasn't faring as well, the cut on her cheek felt on fire and it seemed to be spreading, she believed it to be poison. As she stumbled for the umpteenth time one of the creatures grabbed her and threw her over its shoulder.

They walked at a fast pace, not stopping until dark when none of the others could even stand, let alone walk, any farther. They didn't stop for long just long enough for the creatures holding Jess and Fern who too had slipped into the world of oblivion, to pass them over to other creatures and for others still to lift Mel, Jackie, and Susan as well.

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Being carried by these creatures had got to be one of the most uncomfortable experiences Susan had ever had the displeasure of feeling. The creatures had obviously never heard of the concept of bathing, for they reeked beyond anything she had ever smelt; worse even then rotting eggs. They were anything but gentle and the look in their eyes when they looked at any of them scared her more then anything else ever had.

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As they travelled through the night their pace seemed to lift, it seemed as though they were running. But as the sun rose the next day their pace slowed slightly and Jackie noted that they tended to try and stay in the shade as much as possible. At midday they finally stopped to rest, the creatures dumped their prisoners on the hard ground leaving three to guard.

Jackie crawled slowly over to Fern and noticed she was very pale and was sweating, Jackie thought she had a fever but wasn't positive, but she knew whatever it was it wasn't good.

"Hang in there Fern," Jackie whispered "we'll be ok…" 'I hope' Jackie thought her eyes watering at the thought of Fern dying 'she can't die!' "Don't leave us Fern! Not now! We need you!" Jackie said as tears ran freely from her eyes

"Don't worry Jackie, she won't die," Susan said as she came over "Someone will save us!" Susan said, but her voice wavered.

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Mel looked down at Jess who was still out of it; she was afraid, but refused to admit it to the others, she wanted to appear strong for the moment, even though she ached all over. She needed Jess awake, if only because Jess understood her and had a way of making her smile no-matter what was going on at the time.

"Come on Jess, wake up, we need you," Mel said desperately. "Trust you to sleep in!" Mel said, trying to cheer herself up

"Yes, well I need my beauty sleep," Jess muttered groggily.

"Tons of it, but that's beside the point," Mel said, automatically. "Jess, you're…alive!"

"Yes, yes, now keep your voice down I have a killer headache," Jess muttered, her eyes closing once more

"Sorry," Mel said sheepishly, "no don't go back to sleep!" Mel cried quietly.

"Why not?" Jess said, not really awake but getting there, "What happened anyway?" Jess asked frowning as she tried to remember, it all came flooding back to her and she sat up quickly her eyes wide as they swept over the area before returning to Mel. "You're alright?" she demanded

"Yes but I think I've broken my arm and I hurt all over." Mel said nodding towards her sore arm.

"And the others?" Jess asked looking over to where Susan and Jackie were sitting beside a not so good looking Fern.

"Susan and Jackie are fine but I think Fern has been poisoned," Mel said glancing over to Fern worriedly.

Jess frowned for a moment before looking around again "How long have I been out?" she asked.

"Since yesterday morning,"

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Jess's eyes scanned the area, unconsciously taking in information about the camp and their captors. She saw the creatures holding Susan's Stick. The rest of the weapons were in a sack that had been thrown aside. This stuck her as quite curious. She tried to make herself catch of the time she had lost, it was now a day later, things had changed, and they were prisoners. Jess thanked God that she had been unconscious for a time; she did not know how she would have coped with it all.

A creature approached Mel and Jess, glaring at them both now that Jess was awake. Jess saw that this one was unarmed and realised that some had put down their arms when they had stopped.

"We're going now, elflings," the creature spat out the last word.

Mel suddenly felt brave, "We're not going anyway anymore until Fern gets some care! Give us the poisons antidote and then we'll come quietly. And we'd like a cold compress for Jess's head," she ordered.

The creature looked momentarily shocked, and then got angry. "GET UP!" it ordered.

Mel remained still, her face determined. The creature marched over to Fern and pulled her roughly to her feet. He dragged her over to a rock and threw her against it, then picked up a knife and held it against her throat.

The lead creature came over and hit the other one, knocking it to the ground. It yelled at it in the same foul language they'd used before. It threw Fern over towards Jackie and Susan who caught her roughly, their hands still bound.

The creature then handed them mouldy bread to eat. Mel looked at this with disgust and raised her voice again. "This is disgusting! This is completely against the Geneva Convention! Fern needs medical attention!" Mel gently pushed Jess off her and stood up, holding her arm carefully. "I demand you untie them…"the creature glared at her, though that wasn't what made her stop. Mel was the only without bounds, because of her arm; yet Jess's hands were no longer tied, she had freed herself. Mel decided to try and keep the creatures distracted whilst Jess implemented whatever plan she had.

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"GET UP!" Susan heard the creature yell at a peculiarly defiant Mel. Susan stared at her shocked that she would enrage their dangerous captors that had already threatened to kill them. As the creature stormed over to her she shrunk back in fear; it grabbed Fern and pulled her away, Jackie moved forward to try and get to her but Susan stopped her; and they could only watch as a creature threatened Fern's life.

"Mel, what did you do?" Susan screamed but Mel didn't hear her. Susan saw the knife in slow motion, going for Fern's throat. She had a sudden idea as she saw the creature's leader nearby, "HELP! STOP HIM!" she screamed out. The creature looked over and strode towards Fern, knocking the other creature out of the way. Susan and Jackie attempted to catch Fern as she was thrown towards them. She landed awkwardly and they checked to see if she was all right. Mel was still arguing with the creatures. Susan looked for Jess and noticed she was gone, she wasn't unconscious on the ground; she wondered what they had done with her. She noticed Mel's voice getting extremely desperate, "Ah, have you heard the theory about blondes? That blondes are derived from redheads and brunettes? You know how some blondes look like they are brunettes and some look like they are red heads?" The creature stared at her, and then began to turn around. Mel's eyes widened, Susan looked where Mel was looking and saw Jess fighting with some of the larger creatures. 'What the hell is she doing?' Susan wondered, 'wasn't she unconscious?' Susan looked around fearfully and saw a slight movement on the ridge. She squinted at it, but it was no longer there.

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**A/N: ****Remember to review it encourages us to write more!**


	5. Chapter 5: The Male Patriarchs arrive

Many thanks to our reviewers who keep us going, and thanks to our friends for some interesting inspiration.

As always, please read and review.

Wonderful reviewers of the last chapter: FernTimberlake (of course ), Queen of Monkey Magic (another cookie), and newbie 'Hope and Love'

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**Chapter 5:**

**The Male Patriarch Rescues the Damsels in Distress.**

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Mel grabbed the creatures' arm, turning it back towards her, prohibiting it from seeing Jess. "I haven't finished yet!" she told the creature as she dropped its rather foul arm. "Did you know that the word 'fight' derives from the Latin 'Bagooma', meaning…" she trailed off as the creature lifted its large monstrous arm into the air as it went to strike her. She flinched backwards, closing her eyes, waiting for the blow. It didn't come, as a moment later she felt something fly past her ear, opening her eyes she saw an arrow embedded in the creatures' hand. The creature was looking past her at something and yelled out to the others, "A Woodlander! Golug, ish! Mauk-ul!"

Mel glared at the creature and kicked him hard in the shins, hurting her foot in the process. "Oh f!" she yelled grabbing her foot as the creature pushed her over, she fell backwards only to be caught by human hands. The creature had run off so she was able to look at her saviour: he was a tall man, with long blond hair and had a bow and arrow in his hand. He held her up gently with his other hand. He smiled kindly.

"Elfling, are you alright?" he asked her.

"Yeah, mostly, it's just my arm: I think it's broken or something,"

A small heavily bearded man ran up to them, axe in hand. "Elf, come on, the elfling is fine, there's a BATTLE! I'm on one already!"

"One? That doesn't count, it was outside the…"

"IT DOES SO!"

"Fine," the elf said as he strung two arrows and fired them at the creatures, killing two. "Two for me," he said and the short man fumed. They both ran off to the battle where a group of humans was already fighting.

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Jess gulped as she flipped another creature and cut it down with Jackie's recovered sword. The adrenaline rushed through her body as she fought each one that attacked her. Jess wasn't sure what she was doing, why and how was she fighting these creatures with just a sword and her fists? She had began on instinct when one of the creatures had found her holding Jackie's sword, and it had continued as more and more creatures joined the fight. She was constantly being grabbed from behind and had to swing the large heavy sword at them trying to remove the threats, she was fighting for her life but as the number of creatures grow she found her options becoming more obsolete. She knew she couldn't die, apart from the fact she didn't want to, it would leave the others in grave danger: Mel had begun to make trouble, already irritating them greatly, as Fern had seemed to have somehow done earlier. She heard one of the larger creatures yell out something in that foul language and many of the creatures she had been fighting left. The only term she'd understood was 'A Woodlander!' though she wasn't exactly sure what was meant by it.

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The elf and short hairy man ran into the battle, letting their vast experience show as they, rather casually, counted their kill tally.

"Elf!" the short man called out

"Yes Gimli?" the elf replied

"I didn't think there were any elflings around at the moment,"

"There are none that I know of, perhaps the family is quite… secluded, and for some reason didn't want anyone to know of them…"

Gimli didn't respond for a moment as his axe met a creatures sword, "Thirteen!"

"What? Where did you find all those Urik-hi? I see just over twenty in total,"

"Precisely! And thus I am much more skilled then you elf!"

"Which is very curious, as all you can really do is chop their legs off," Gimli looked outraged as he aimed for a creatures chest on purpose, "unless you are standing on a handy rock or box," the elf finished smirking at the short man.

"Hmph!'

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There were two more elves in the group, twins, and they where quite enjoying themselves. Yet they to pondered the same question that plagued Gimli and his elven companion.

"And since we know one is an elfling, would that make the others elflings to? Or is it an elfling among a group of humans? And I didn't think there where even any elflings on Middle earth!" One of the twins cried

"And what are they doing here in the middle of nowhere, being held captives of the Urik-hi?" The other seemed to finish for the others questionings

"We should ask them," the first suggested

"Um Roh?"

"Yes Dan?"

"Perhaps now is not the best time, as we seem to be quite busy,"

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Mel ran over to Jackie and Susan, who where still looking after Fern, while glancing nervously over at the battle.

"Jess is in there, somewhere," Mel said

"What on earth made her do that?" Susan demanded.

A creature broke away from the battle and headed towards them; this one was one of the shorter, wimpier creatures, and perhaps even more disgusting then the larger that seemed to at least have a brain.

"Help!" Jackie screamed, still slightly hysterical

None of them had any weapons and they looked around wildly for something to defend themselves with.

"Elflings," the creature began to croon

Susan picked up a very heavy rock and threw it, with some force, at the creature. It hit it in the middle of its forehead and Mel wasn't sure it would do anything as it seemed the creatures head was incredibly thick and empty, but the unexpected force threw the creature backwards and it didn't get up again; so Mel assumed Susan had just rid the creature of what little brain it had.

"Wow good shot Suze!" Mel cried as Susan stared at the creature

"I…I…" Susan muttered before fainting

The battle was almost complete, most able creatures fled, including the leader. One of the remaining creatures looked around desperately for a way to escape, but he was surrounded by the enemy. He had not been seen as he was lying injured on the ground, but he knew it couldn't last long as the men were checking for survivors. He saw a slim opportunity, one of the elflings was standing nearby, and seemed relatively harmless; her grip on that sword was quite lazy and she had a rather dumfounded look on her face. He approached her quickly and cautiously as the hunting group was looking after the poisoned elfling and chasing some of his brethren. He had almost reached her when he was startled by a yell of "thirty-three!" by the dwarf.

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The Rangers were checking that all the Orcs and Urak-hi were dead, whilst the elf and dwarf chased the others and counted it all rather loudly. Aragorn watched them doing this, being their temporary commander and all. He listened to Gimli and Legolas shaking his head, whilst chuckling under his breath. He surveyed the troops when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. There was an Urak-hi about to grab the girl who had been fighting!

"GIRL! LOOKOUT!" Aragorn cried as he readied his bow; also attracting the attention of the others.

The Urak-hi grabbed the girl and held her in front of him like a shield. "Don't do anything, or I'll kill the elfling," he yelled as he held a knife to her throat.

"Strider?" Aragorn's second lieutenant asked him.

"Legolas!" Aragorn called out, needing the elf's assistance.

The Urak-hi looked around nervously as Aragorn waited impatiently for Legolas to arrive; Aragorn was defiantly not used to waiting for people.

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Legolas strung his arrow and prepared to shoot when Aragorn's voice interrupted his thoughts; he quickly fired the arrow and listened.

"Elf!" Gimli said loudly in his ear, but he just shushed him.

"Something's going on back there," he said, looking toward the camp. "Aragorn needs our help,"

Legolas ran to the Urak-hi camp, with Gimli just behind him, and saw the scene unfolding before him: A lone Urak-hi holding a girl hostage, while Aragorn looked on unsure, the girl's friend, the elfling, stood next to Aragorn and was trying to talk to the Urak-hi with some assistance from Aragorn.

"What's going on?" Legolas asked.

"He says the girls an elfling; this is not my area of expertise, I'd ask the twins but they're tending to the injured," the twins suddenly appeared at his side; looking on nervously.

"Another elfling?" the eldest asked.

"That's very rare," his brother agreed, and Legolas nodded.

"They're all the same age, which I find the strangest," Legolas said. "None appear to be related,"

"Are you going to do something, or what?" the elfling demanded.

"And just what would you have us do?" Aragorn asked.

"Save her! That's what you hero types do, isn't it?"

"How do we know she's this elf thing?" Gimli demanded of the Urak-hi while the others stared at him.

The Urak-hi smirked and pulled back her hair, revealing the tell-tale pointy ears.

"OUCH! YOU SON-OF-A!" the girl yelled.

"Lower your weapons and let me through or the elfling dies!" the Urik-hi sneered

"Do as he says!" Legolas and the elven twins cried, afraid for the elfling.

The Urik-hi leered at them as they lowered their weapons, though it took one of Legolas's best glares to get Gimli to lower his axe.

"Glamhoth!" the elfling next to Aragorn yelled at him unexpectedly, "Don't hurt her!"

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Jess was afraid, yet frustrated and angry. Jess was watching the people who had had saved her stand around talking with that creature. She could tell Mel was getting quite frustrated, yet was acting strangely diplomatic as she attempted to save her and argue with the leader of the men at the same time. It was obvious that they won't going to do anything as three of them had felt there was something of great importance about this elfling they felt her to be. Jess decided to take matters into her own hands, after all it was her own life at stake and she wasn't the damsel in distress type.

"I'm nobody's damn hostage!" she yelled determinedly, as she stomped hard on the creatures foot, causing it to loosen its hold for only a moment, Jess took this opportunity to grab the creatures arm and flip it over. She then snatched his knife from the creatures hand and drove it into the creatures' chest, finding its black heart. Everyone stared at her in complete shock.

"Jess!" Mel ran over to her and hugged her tight.

Jess stared at the dead creature sprawled out before her, her brain only just realizing what she had done. 'Oh, god! Oh what have I done? I just killed someone…well something!' she thought to herself, starting to hyperventilate, what little colour in her face fled.

"I need to sit down," she mumbled as her legs gave way and she fell to her knees.

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A/N:

Thanks for reading and please review.

A reminder to look at the New Pirate Arrivals, with the same characters, just a wonderful new setting.


	6. Chapter 6: The Briefest of Explanations

**A/N: **As usual thanks to our loyal reviewers, in this case: Fern Timberlake, Queen of Monkey Magic and Hope and Love. Cookie for all.

**Chapter 6:** The Briefest of Explanations

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They had calmed Jess down and had wrapped Fern, Jess and Susan in blankets as they prepared to leave.

"Elfling…" Legolas began to say to Mel.

"Mel," she told him firmly.

"Yes, Mel, what are you doing here?"

"We're not quite sure, see we were captured,"

"Where from?"

"This forest with giant freaking walking trees,"

"Fangorn Forest, ents,"

Mel stared at him for a moment, "Anyway, can you please explain to me WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?"

Legolas looked at her, "What do you mean?"

"We woke up in THE FOREST, with pointy EARS! Which, might I mention, we HAD NOT previously HAD! And," she continued before he could comment, "we were not wearing these clothes when we first got here, we woke up and _POOF! _Different clothes, very different clothes; and weapons! Old-fashioned weapons, I got a freaking bow and arrow for Christ's sake! And them," she said pointing at the Urak-hi, "what on earth are they?"

"Those are Urak-hi, an advanced form of orc…the uh, smaller ones."

"Alright, sworn enemy kind of situation? And you are an elf," Legolas nodded. "And that dude," she indicated Aragorn, "Is not,"

"Correct,"

"And the short hairy one I'm guessing is a dwarf. And you say we, meaning me and the other girls, are elflings…which are?"

"Young elves, very rare,"

The twin elves came up to them, they, as had the others, had been listening to their conversation. One began: "Elves are immortal but that longevity does not come without a price; precious few children are born to us. While the birth of a child is an almost common occurrence to the other races of Middle Earth, the Elves rarely enjoyed that blessing. Precious few youths are born to us, and as such, the Elves are very protective of their offspring. Children mean more to us then any other race could possibly understand..."

"A child is an elfling for around fifty years," his twin finished.

"Though some of the ancient ones call you an elfling until your first millennia!" the other said, quite grumpily.

"Only ninety-seven more years," Legolas said.

"For YOU maybe!"

"That WAS the point,"

"Anyway," Mel said, "back to the topic at hand, where the F HELL are we?"

"Middle earth,"

"Never heard of it, though I suppose I'm going to hear a lot about it very soon,"

"Middle Earth is inhabited by humans, elves, dwarves and hobbits or Halflings: child sized people, smaller then dwarves, with hairy feet; these are all the good guys, guys like this are…not so much," he said, indicating the Urak-hi at his feet, "there are also Orcs, trolls, goblins etcetera, as well as some not so nice humans."

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The Ranger's helped the girls onto their horses; each would be sharing one as the rangers had thankfully had no casualties. Fern had ridden off with Elrohir, the younger twin, as soon as possible; they were headed for the city of Rivendell, where Elrohir's father would need to heal Fern immediately.

Jess was carefully lifted by Elladan, the eldest of the twins, onto his horse.

"What's this on your back?" he asked as he felt something under her tunic. She reached back and found two slim twin daggers in their casing strapped to her back.

"Do you all have weapons then?"

"Our weapons!" Mel cried, as she sat atop Legolas' horse.

"Don't worry lass," Gimli said, walking over, carrying a bag, "I believe this to be yours," Legolas raised a curious eyebrow. "After you informed me that the elvish sword was given to Jackie, I saw fit to investigate this bag of weapons that had remained untouched,"

"In other words, you were nosy," Aragorn said.

"As I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted, I found these beautiful weapons; I especially liked the glaive,"

"That's Susan's, the knives are Ferns' and the bow and arrows are mine," Mel told him.

Gimli handed Mel her weapons and stowed the others.

"Nice bow," Legolas said as he jumped on their horse.

"Thanks," she whispered as they rode off, her hands around his waist.

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A/N: Please review.

And, finally, one of the completely random story type things that came about during development.

" On the other side of the world Elrond was stuck in a burning ship; which quite sucked as Fern was still on her way to Not die. A passing phoenix was crying over a lost leaf and a teardrop landed on Fern, healing her instantly. Galadriel on the other hand had jumped in the water and was screaming "I'm melting! I'm melting!" "


	7. Chapter 7: The Riders of Rohan

A/N: Thanks to our reviewers, especially Hope and Love for quickly reviewing our last chapter. A cookie for everyone, who reviewed. Please enjoy this chapter and review at the end.

**Chapter 7:** The Riders of Rohan

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The ride was long and tedious, though at moments Aragorn spurred the horse into a full gallop, which Jackie found quite enjoyable and she giggled quite hysterically. They were told they were headed for the nearby city of Edoras, capital of Rohan, which was just under two days ride from where they were, if all went well. One horseman claimed he could make the ride in half a day or so, much to the annoyance of the others.

"He's just excited," Aragorn explained to Jackie as they rode along, "He's from Edoras and learnt to ride there: so he may just be able to do it, as the people of Rohan are such great riders,"

Jackie wanted to know what else what else they did at Rohan, whether they had a movie cinema or something, though before she could Mel gave her a strange look, almost as if she had heard her thoughts, and shook her head. She thought she almost heard Mel say, "Life's very different here, no movies, no electricity…no plumbing," which was why she was quite startled when she heard Mel sigh after that.

Throughout the journey Gimli, the dwarf, recited the history of Middle Earth, putting a deep emphasis on the dwarf's involvement in the conflicts.

"May I remind you that the ONLY reason you joined the fellowship was because quote 'I will be dead before I see the ring in the hands of an elf,' unquote," Legolas reminded him rather casually. "And was it not the dwarves who delved too greedily and too deep into Moria, giving us that wonderful Khazad-Dum experience?"

"Was it not Lord Legolas who took a little too long to kill that Urak-hi at Helms Deep, blowing up the entire wall?"

"There were two arrows in his neck! Who survives that?"

"That Urak-hi sure did,"

Jackie could tell they'd had this argument many times before. Aragorn laughed, loudly, at the two.

"And don't get me started on humans! If it wasn't for you…"

Jess laughed from behind Elladan as he whispered, "I think we are a bit out numbered here Gimli, to start an argument on those grounds,"

Gimli looked around at all the humans which surrounded him and promptly fell off his horse, as he did quite regularly.

The two groups merged as they slowly became one. On their first night Jackie began a rather fiery campfire story about something Fern did; at least she told the others that's what Fern did. Jackie was momentarily glad Fern was not there as she received great laughs from all who were listening and even got a pat on the back from Gimli. Two were not listening to the campfire story, which Jackie and Gimli both noticed; Mel had handed Legolas her bow and he was carefully examining it, neither spoke during this time. Gimli and Jackie exchanged looks.

"I'll have to teach you to use it once your arm heals," Legolas told Mel. Gimli laughed softly at this, causing both to quickly look over at him then turn away.

No one even discussed the issue of camping, which Mel had previously loathed. Each accepted it as something that was done by all. Though Mel's lack of complaints was suspect; according to Jackie, Susan, Jess and Gimli; as she spent most of her time watching Legolas stand guard. Elladan was the first to point out that she had perhaps fallen asleep and was possibly showing signs of sleeping like all elves do: with their eyes open.

"Maybe she's just doing the: I'll be nice to the kind man thing, which she tends to do at random intervals, without meaning anything deeper," Jess suggested whilst sniggering.

"Yeah, that's it,"

"He could just be taking it wrong, guys do only think of one thing you know,"

"I think Legolas is a bit too deep to be like that,"

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Aragorn was fascinated by these girls; something strange had happened, transporting them there and turning them into elflings. He was willing to put that down to mysterious acts of magic. What perplexed him most was the way they adapted to this new world, which they'd said was quite different to theirs, but they'd refused to elaborate: which was doubtless a good idea. They'd adapted to the world as if it was their own and were quickly developing skills in it. They gathered information about the land without asking twice, which would allow them to seem less like outsiders when they meet other people; they were already like that with the Rangers, so much so that they often forgot their intriguing history. He had a strange feeling, that these girls when settle in society more then most, and have grand roles in it. He glanced over at Legolas and Mel and believed this feeling.

"Gimli," he called out to the dwarf who was telling jokes to Jackie, "don't scare the girl,"

"Scare her? She already knows one of the jokes I do!"

Aragorn smiled and laughed. Perhaps they were staring their own fellowship. He shook his head. They would leave them at Edoras, perhaps to the fate of the King, perhaps to the fate of Elladan to meet up with their friend at Rivendell. They would not see them again: he would go back to being King, Legolas would need to report back to his father eventually before he and Gimli went off terrorising the west.

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Edoras could be seen by the troop for some hours before they arrived there. To Susan Edoras was just a group of buildings atop of each other, on a hill with a big wall around it. She heard mention of the "Golden Hall" of what she presumed be the castle; though she could not see where that building was. She saw banners flying above many buildings and was told that the image on it was a horse: the symbol of the famous Riders of Rohan. She looked at the approaching city with apprehension; what danger would lurk within those walls, what strange new fears would they encounter, she wondered.

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Edoras was full of activity as news of the imminent arrival of the Ranger groups spread. Rumours speculated that Aragorn himself was leading the troop. People cheered from their houses at the news. Eomer sent the Riders to greet them; Merry rode out with the troop, excited to see his friends again.

"Strider!" he called out as they approached the group.

"Laddie!" Gimli called out, cheering, as Legolas and Aragorn laughed.

"What brings Rangers all the way to Rohan?" Merry asked as he pulled up his pony.

"A band of Urik-hi attacked a farm in Dunland, we chased them all the way into Fangorn, and had to save some people they'd taken captive…" Aragorn said, indicating the girls.

"Whoa, he's shorter then me," was Jackie's first thought, but she again received a glare from Mel.

"Girls, Merry is a good friend of ours, he's a hobbit," Aragorn explained. "Master Merry, please lead on, we need to speak to Eomer,"

"Yes your …Strider,"

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King Eomer sat proudly, yet wisely atop his throne, listening patiently to a farmer explain a problem he had encountered. Though when the doors to the hall were wrenched opened and Aragorn marched in, flanked by Legolas and Elladan, he stood and kindly dismissed the farmer, sending him to someone to solve his problem.

"Lord Aragorn," he said, bowing his head. "I had heard you were with the Rangers…"

"I am, I needed to stop by for a moment. We killed a band of Urak-hi on the borders of Fangorn forest; they had some Elven prisoners that I will need someone to take care of,"

"Prisoners? How unlike them. I will send them to the infirmary at once,"

"We have been riding for many days, we all need some hot food and the girls need some more clothing,"

"Girls?"

The girls stood together at the back of the hall, being unused to such surroundings. Aragorn indicated that they should come forward and they did, slowly. As they walked past Legolas whispered, "Curtsy!"

The girls all heard his words. Mel bowed perfectly, like a Queen, even though she had never done it before in her life. Susan attempted to copy her, yet looked quite awkward as she curtsied. Jackie was unsure of what to do and did a strange bow curtsy combination, while Jess inclined her head respectively.

"King Eomer, meet Mel, Jess, Susan and Jackie," Aragorn said.

Eomer bowed back to them, making them smile softly.

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They received a rather warm reception from the people of Rohan, and dined with the King that night. Their situation was not explained in depth, all that was said was that they were lost. The Rangers stayed with them teaching them to use their weapons. Each had a rather specialised teacher for their particular weapon: Susan spent some being taught how to use her glaive from the Riders of Rohan, particularly the young Rohinian who was a Ranger: Tydd and his friends, who also taught her some expert riding skills; Jackie was taught to use her sword by the Rangers, with some rather unhelpful comments by Gimli, who seemed to feel that an axe was the only weapon anyone would need, ever; Mel was taught by the elven archery expert Legolas, until he was forced to leave to report to his father in a place called Mirkwood, some distance north from Rohan, then she had lessons from Elladan and Aragorn, with some assistance from the Rangers; Jess was taught by Aragorn, Elladan and the Rangers, learning many forms of weaponry and skirmishing.

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Three weeks into their jaunt they received word from the city of Minas Tirith, in the neighbouring country of Gondor. All were standing on the steps to the Golden Hall, chatting, when a lone horseman galloped up to them and jumped off his horse and bowed to Aragorn, holding out a piece of parchment, "Your Majesty, word from Minas Tirith!"

Aragorn took the parchment and read it quickly, "Merry, I need my horse and send word to Eomer," Merry arrived moments later leading his horse which he quickly mounted and galloped away, swiftly followed by two of the Rangers.

The girls stared after him in amazement.

"He's a King!" exclaimed Mel, questioningly.

"What?" Jackie asked, baffled.

"Well, yes, he is, you didn't know?" Elladan said.

"NO! We did not!" Mel yelled.

"Are there any other Kings here we should know about?" Susan demanded.

"Apart from Eomer, not really. Though Legolas is a prince…"

"Really?" Mel asked.

"Yes,"

"I'm a dwarf lord! Much more important then some Elven princeling!" Gimli said, butting in.

"Congratulations Gimli," Elladan said, raising an eyebrow.

"Be quiet princeling,"

"You're a prince?" Jess said, turning to Elladan, and pointing accusingly.

"Guilty,"

"Cool,"

…………………………………………………

The Ranger's realised that it was time for them to also depart, back to their home. The girls were to be escorted to Rivendell, an elven place ruled by Master Elrond, the healer. Elladan explained that that was where his brother had taken Fern. King Eomer provided an escort for the girls, Elladan and Gimli, who would ride with them as far as the Misty Mountains, which was when their paths would take different directions.

Jackie grew excited as they left Rohan, as she realised they would soon be seeing Fern. Susan was apprehensive again as she wondered how far this journey would take them and how long they would remain in this strange land. Jess and Mel talked weapons and tactics: Mel was fascinated by the overall strategy of a battle and tactics involved in fighting skirmishes; whilst Jess was more interested in the actual fighting thereof.

………………………………………………….

A/N: Please review and tell us what you think.

And, something which was intended for this section at the end of the next chapter, but felt appropriate here:

"Fern was dying. Elrohir was not. Then a bomb came along and they all died, including the trees. Poor trees. "


	8. Chapter 8: Dalliance with Wolves

A/N: To our reviewers: Hope and Love, Fern Timberlake, Save a broom ride a chaser, a big thanks. Cookies all round. To everyone else, please review, it helps us to know what people think about it, and could give us suggestions of what to do…

**Chapter** **8: Dalliance with wolves **

* * *

"Damn those elflings," muttered Lughorn, deputy leader of the hunting expedition that had just arrived. Their leader, Darûk, sat atop his makeshift throne, waiting for a report.

"Lughorn, where is your commander?"

The Urak-hi hesitated, "He was killed,"

"By whom?"

"The warriors rescuing our…captives,"

"And why did you have captives?"

"Well, they were elflings and we thought you might want them, then the Rangers…"

"RANGERS?" the leader said, quite shocked.

"Yes. King Aragorn himself was leading them, as well as some elves and a dwarf,"

"Did you kill the King?" a voice in the crowd which was gathered around the throne, demanded.

"No,"

"Since when did Urak-hi leave men alive? Fleeing like humans faced with the pike of an orc!" the voice yelled.

"Who is that?" The leader demanded, realising the voice was not one of an orc or Urak-hi.

"It is I…"

……………………………..

The room was dark, silent, and was empty barring two people who stood still, listening to the wind.

"_They ride in the shadow of the mountain, their destination is nigh," _a voice whispered to their minds.

"_Are they fit for their task?" _one of the men in the room asked, back in the same way.

"_They are competent, though I suffer from doubt, they are not as I would have perceived,"_

_"Things will change," _the other man in the room replied.

……………………………….

A week into their journey the group stopped beside a stream for the night, they lit a large fire which they all lay in a circle around it. Two Rohirrim stood guard and would be relieved in a few hours. When the guard was changing the group heard a low growl in the distance.

"Wolves," Tydd muttered, taking up his post. "Sound like they're on the other side of the stream. Won't go near the fire,"

The growls remained constant and soon Elladan sat up, instantly awake and reacting to the noise. "They sound wild," he commented, listening to the noise.

"We'll be fine, they'll stay away from the fire," Tydd said.

"They don't sound like normal wolves,"

"They sound disturbed," Jess said, eyes still closed.

"I think there's a movie about that, mad murderous wolves, or something," Jackie muttered, much to the confusion of the Rohirrim and Elladan.

The growling got louder and fiercer, and Elladan detected that they were approaching the campsite.

"They're approaching the campsite," Elladan informed the group.

"Indeed, they seem to be surrounding us," Jess said, sounding all serious.

"WHAT?" Susan shrieked, instantly awake.

Mel sat up, eyes wide, "You know Jess, that may not be the most comforting thing you could say at this interval," Mel muttered.

"Are we in any danger?" Susan said, her voice going high and squeaky, suddenly finding herself clinging to Tydd.

"Of course not," Tydd said, acting tough, though Mel and Jess detected a wavering of his voice.

"What do they want?" a Rohirrim asked, concerned, holding his horses' reigns tight, making sure it remained calm.

The wolves growling got louder and more defined as one stepped into the firelight, appearing just near Elladan and Jess. A Rohirrim stood just in the shadows and Jess saw a glint of steel in his hand, partly hidden by the folds of his cloak. Jess attempted to grab his attention, tell him not to provoke the animal, when she got distracted by something strange. She tilted her head and stared at the approaching animal. Elladan attempted to put himself between the wolf and Jess and attempted to communicate with the animal, in the way of the elves. After a moment he was almost tossed backwards by an unseen force.

"He's wild," Elladan said, eyes wide, "I can't seem to communicate with him. Usually they respond to us, and calm down, but this wolf seems untameable. There's a wildness in him I have not encountered before,"

Jess reached out, slowly, towards the beast, who was glaring up at them. Elladan tried to snatch her arm back, though Jess somehow seemed safe, the wolf had stopped growling and was watching her cautiously.

Out of the corner of her eye Jess saw movement and froze. "No!" she cried as the Rohirrim dashed forwards, his knife raised high, aimed towards the wolf. The wolf turned towards him and leaped.

………………………………………………..

Fern's laugh echoed through Master Elrond's halls. "He did what?" she demanded of her friend Daniella, daughter of the leader of a ranger troop that had been passing through.

"I swear he danced half starkers on top of Lord Elronds' table in the Great Hall!" Fern blushed mildly.

"Was anyone there?"

"I believe a maid saw him, as well as some of his troop o' course," Fern laughed loudly at Daniella's comment. "I think one of them threw a boot at his 'ead or something, as he's in the Healing House right now, getting patched up," Fern paled mildy at this news. "Well go on then, go wish 'im well,"

Fern blushed considerably and they walked down the long terrace in silence for a moment, the only sound was the flickering of the torches and the hooting of a passing owl. Fern was still familiarising herself with her surrounds, as she had only been out of bed for a week or so, and wondered were they were heading, then she wondered if Daniella knew where they were. She looked around quickly, trying to find their bearings, they couldn't possibly be lost! Could they?

"Ahh, here we are," Daniella said, nudging Fern through the open doorway next to them. Fern toppled sidewards, amazed at Daniella's strength. She looked at a familiar floor, made of white marble, which reminded Fern of clouds.

"Oh bugger!" she muttered, quite loudly. She pulled herself up and instantly realised where she was. The Healing House. Oh dear. Standing not far from her was a large group of Rangers, weaponless, standing around a bed. They were all staring at her. Fern blushed, and in that moment, missed the person on the bed sit up slightly and call her name. It took her a moment to understand what was going on. There, in the bed, was none other then a certain table top dancing Ranger, who appeared to have a slight bump on his head. Fern blushed furiously as he said her name.

"Fern, are you alright?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes James, just had a slight miscalculation there, you see, the floor, must be raised or something, honestly, someone should fix that, maybe it's wet. I swear, honestly," she said stamping on the floor, "see, crooked!" upon realising what she was doing, she blushed. Upon realising how much she had been blushing, she blushed.

"Yes, very tricky floor indeed," James said kindly.

"How are you James? I heard you had a nasty bump to the head," Fern said, changing the topic. James refused to meet her eyes, embarrassed about his actions.

The Rangers stepped back a little, allowing Fern to get closer to James.

"Mistress Fern?" a messenger said, appearing at the door. "Lord Elrond requests your presence in his study,"

"Oh," Fern said, glancing up at him, then back at James. "I better be off then,"

Suddenly James was pulled to his feet by his fellow Rangers, and the two of them found themselves very close to each other. The Rangers surrounding them seemed to tighten ranks, moving Fern and James closer and closer to each other. "Ohhh,"

"Well, goodbye then Fern, or, at least, 'till next time, I hope," he said, slowly and quietly, Fern hung on his every word. She felt him lean in towards her, and she was inclined to lean towards him in reply. Both paused and realised their noses were almost touching.

"Oh, sorry," James whispered, pulling back slowly, feeling as if he had gone too far.

"Don't be," she whispered. She found herself flinging her arms around his neck. "I don't mind. Don't mind at all," their eyes met. And she kissed him, and he kissed her back.

……………………………………………….

The wolf leaped at the Rohirrim's throat, but the man swiped at it with his knife, missing the beast, but stopping it from getting to his throat. Them wolf disappeared from view, and the man had thought he'd scared it off. Proudly he smiled at Jess, who was looking behind him.

"Behind you!" Tydd yelled from across the clearing.

"Wha…?" the Rohirrim said, turning, just in time to see the wolf latch on to his…

…………………………………………………

Jackie was watching the scene that was unfolding before her with great confusion. She saw Jess reach down to pat a suddenly docile wolf, laughing quietly. "He seemed to be under some sort of enchantment," she heard Elladan say. Then suddenly there were screams.

Her head wiped up to see Susan screaming, and turned back to the wolf, the once docile wolf which had latched onto the Rohirrim's leg. Jackie was startled, and extremely confused.

The man kicked the wolf off his leg and screamed out in pain. Elladan rushed to his aid.

"You shouldn't have provoked him!" Jess yelled at the injured man. "We were communicating! Then you had to go and scare him! You know how long that took? Seriously? The first thing I got out of him was grr! I had tamed the damn wolf!"

"You spoke to him?" Elladan inquired, completely ignoring the injured man for a moment.

Jackie stopped listening to their conversation for a moment, and watched the wolf back away. It seemed to watch Elladan and Jess, and she could have sworn it was listening and taking in everything they said. Then the something entirely unexpected happened. The wolfs eyes glowed red. Jackie saw this as a bad sign. In movies glowing eyes always meant bad things.

"The wolf is doing something!" Mel yelled, attempting to get the groups attention back towards the imminent threat.

"Oh bugger," Susan said.

………………………………………….

The wolf sensed that the man was no-longer a threat and was searching for the next greatest threat. Many of the Rohirrim were on the other side of the fire, calming their horses, and he saw their small swords and spears as no great threat whilst they were on the ground. His choice of greatest threat was an interesting one. He went straight for Jackie and her broadsword. As the wolf ran towards her Jackie had an idea. She hit it over the head with the hilt of her sword. It yelped and froze, startled.

"Jess, now!" Elladan cried.

The wolf turned and looked towards Jess. It's head tilted, as if it was trying to understand something. Then suddenly it bounded across the clearing towards Jess, and stood in front of her.

"How curious," Elladan said.

Jess reached down to pat a suddenly docile wolf, laughing quietly.

"He seemed to be under some sort of enchantment," Elladan said.

"Whoa, dejà vu," Jackie said, noticing the similarities in the scenes.

No-one seemed to hear her, so Jackie went over the where the group was gathering around Jess and the wolf.

"You talked to the wolf?" Mel said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," Jess said, as if it was the most obvious and common thing in the world. "It's a rare gift," Elladan said softly and wisely, "an advancement of the elven skill of communicating with nature. It used to be called beast-speaking when it was more common. That is a great skill you have,"

"So you can speak to animals?" Susan asked. Jess nodded and shrugged. "Oh my God!" Susan squealed.

Jackie said nothing, as she had not been truly listening to the group. She was lost in her own thoughts, a rare occurrence for Jackie, who was more a doer, then a thinker. Perhaps she had just been hallucinating after all…

………………………………………………..

"So, the blonde girl is communicating with the wolves? In ways unlike those of the elves…" the man said, thinking. "How very interesting…very interesting,"

* * *

A/N: Please review, thanks.

Also, another mini-story type thing: note: **Jess is bold. **_Mel is italic._ We'll try to remember to keep this format going.

_"Then one day Fern looked weak, and died. He managed to revive her. Then he died._

**"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"**

_Fern died of a broken heart._

**Stupid bitch steal my man I'll teach you!**

_Umm shes dead, idiot._

**So I can bring her back and kill her more painfully as it is my story too!**

_Well then can't you just bring him back and live happily ever after. You could just say that this was all a dream, after all you are the writer._

**I could but where is the fun in that?**

_Well you could bring them back to life, kill her and then see if he dies of a broken heart and if he doesn't then he loves you and not her and you can live happily. Until he dies when he forgets to clean the tree and you get angry._

**They don't live in trees in Rivendell. Unlike your stupid realm!**

_Well, I'm not sure they do in my realm either, it's just the principle of the matter: one cannot have a dirty tree!_

**Yes you're right and people in your realm do save for the people who live in the palace which is located in a cave!"**

_Note: it is a conversation b/w two people, each new line means a new person is 'talking'. Yep, strange 'convo' b/w Jess and I._

**Between Mel and I!**


	9. Chapter 9: Reunions

Dedicated to 'Hope and Love' as well as Fern, for reviewing! You both get a really big Cookie and a hug!

**Chapter 9: Reunions and Velvet-Clad Disasters **

"Oh my God!" Susan squealed as they rode up river, nearing the entrance to Rivendell. "I can see her, I can see her!" she said, standing up in her stirrups.

"Careful Susan," Tydd said, watching her nervously. Susan stayed upright and seemed very balanced as she squeaked.

"Ferny!" Jackie yelled, joyously, as she saw Fern standing at a gap in the long line of trees, amongst a large group of people, wearing a long simple flowing gown of warm earth red. Jackie attempted a quick dismount, wanting to rush up to Fern, but she didn't seem to have the skills Susan seemed to possess on the horse and fell flat on her face after catching her foot in the stirrup. Susan laughed heartily.

"Jackie!" Mel groaned.

"Bugger…" Jackie said, pulling herself up. She paused, "Ferny!" she said, sprinting towards Fern, arms outstretched.

"Oh goody!" Susan said, dismounting skilfully and running up to Fern.

"Hey guys!" Fern said, smiling and running out to greet them. Jackie threw her arms around Fern, pulling her into a tight embrace, crushing her ribs.

"You're not dead!" Jackie exclaimed, attempting to hug her tighter.

"Aahh, Jackie, almost dead at the moment," Fern said.

"Oh crap," Jackie said, loosening her death hold.

"Fern!" Susan said, practically crash tackling Fern, throwing her arms around both of them.

"Hey Fern," Jess said, coming over whilst guiding the horses abandoned by Susan and Jackie.

"Fernykins!" Mel called, still astride her horse, waiting for someone to assist her off said horse, not wanting to repeat Jackie's dismount experiences.

"I've missed you all so much!" Fern said, when a girl behind her coughed. "Oh, sorry. Jackie, Mel, Susan, Jess, this is my new friend Daniella. Daniella, this is everyone,"

Elladan kindly helped Mel off her horse and they walked over together, Mel going up to Fern and Elladan to the man standing behind her.

"Father," he said to the man, in greeting.

"Elladan, son," the man replied before embracing him.

"Fern? Should you not introduce us to…?" Mel said, gesturing to the group assembled behind Fern.

"Oh, this is Lord Elrond, he's the twin's dad,"

"Lord?" Mel said, "Well this is quite a first impression," she indicated their travel worn clothes, all riding gear to make the trip easier. The clothes they had first appeared in had not survived their captivity well and most hoped to never see them ever again. 'I'm over flowy,' Mel had said. 'At least, that flowy. Made me look short anyway.'

"We must appear quite a shambles. Forgive us for the moment, Master Elrond," she said, without knowing he also took that title, to her it just seemed to fit. "The road was long and hard. We had felt the need for some haste to determine Fern's wellbeing. My presumption at the moment, however, is that she appears quite well. She even seems to be glowing more then usual,"

"It is no matter; we have rooms prepared for you. Fern can lead you there and Daniella, if she so wishes. They are all in the same wing,"

………………………………………

As they walked, laughing and happy to finally be back together, Fern watched her friends. She noticed some changes in them that they themselves may not have detected.

Jess brimmed with confidence, was no longer shy, though she still remained quiet. It seemed to Fern that with the loss of her shyness she may have gained courage, perhaps she would find herself too brave, too careless.

Jackie laughed as much as ever, though her eyes shone of secrets, inner turmoil and a hint of deep thought, she appeared to be loosing a lot of the carelessness she had previously possessed.

Mel seemed to have unexpected strength and wisdom, not physical strength, but more a mental one. She strode taller and more confidently, choosing her words much more carefully then she once had.

Susan was interesting to Fern. She was still rather loud, yet her mind seemed to not really be there, as if she was subconsciously wishing to be away.

Yet they were still the same people, all laughing happily. Their experiences had changed them, Fern wanted to say, yet she knew that it was something else as well.

Would they detect a change in her?

………………………………………

"This place is breathtaking," Mel said as they walked along a corridor that was similar to an outdoor terrace, yet was inside as well. Mel surmised that they liked nature quite a bit. She felt as if she were outside, yet the roof and one continuous wall, and another which was a roof to floor wall, except with large sections missing, kept trying to say she was inside. To simplify her thoughts she decided that she would could it an outside terrace, leading to rooms and extending along like a hallway.

"Isn't it?" Fern said, agreeing. "And this is only where we are, you should see the healing halls and…" Fern continued on about her wonderful time in Rivendell, and all the wonderful people.

The group had broken off into two smaller ones, which were still partly combined, as they walked. Fern strode, leading the way, walking in step with Susan and Jackie, whilst the other three had fallen just behind.

"Is that the forth time she's mentioned James?" Mel asked.

"Yes," Jess said, watching Fern. "Fifth,"

"Who is he?"

Daniella replied, being the only one who knew. "'e is a Ranger that got injured some time back, just before Fern arrived. He saw her when they rushed 'er in, and they spoke to each other every day. Then 'e got better and moved out, but the Ranger's stayed around – they do that a lot. So when she finally got out of bed they kept bumping into each other. The other day…"

"You kissed someone!" Jackie suddenly exclaimed, loudly, turning to Fern who had been talking about the kitchens.

"How'd 'ya know I was gonna say that?" Daniella demanded.

"What, she did?" Susan exclaimed. "You kissed someone!" she said, her voice reaching impossible octave levels.

In the calamity that followed, Jackie's strange thought was forgotten. At least, for the moment.

……………………………………………..

They all gathered in what, due to previous experiences, would have been called a common room, but instead Mel thought it was more a private sitting room for that wing. All were freshly bathed, 'thank God,' Fern had said, 'you people stink,' and in new clothes that suited them. Clean lines were the way to go.

"I think this is better then those other clothes we had," Mel said, unconsciously smoothing the front of her forest green gown. "More practical, less 'imagined whilst drinking',"

Daniella laughed and Jess grinned, as the others remained silent.

"What are we going to do now?" Susan whined, quietly, referring to their current predicament and the want to remove themselves from this strange place.

Jess looked at Fern and then Daniella, trying to indicate she didn't think they should discuss that in front of her.

"Well I," Mel said, seeming to get the point, "plan to lavish myself in luxury then discover what they do for fun around here,"

"Do you think…" '_they'd have basketball?' _Jackie began.

"I highly doubt," Mel said, her voice intoning over Jackie's, "that they'd have many of the activities we used to casually involve ourselves in. They seem to be more a 'sit and contemplate the flower' community,"

There was polite knock on the door.

"Come in," Fern said.

A messenger appeared. "Lord Elrond has requested that you are informed of the forthcoming ball to be held in preface of thee,"

"A ball? When shall such an occasion be held?" Mel asked.

"It is tradition that once an elfling reaches a certain age a celebration is to be planned as a way of introducing them to society, it is tradition that this occurs two months after the person is introduced to the Lord,"

"WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR?" Susan cried once the man had left.

"Clothes," Jess muttered.

"Always a good idea," Mel concurred.

Susan glared at the two of them before flicking her hair back and looking in the long mirror which was against one of the walls. She twirled in her dress as if to choose colour and style.

"The elves 'ave a good seamstress," Daniella said. "'S'not like I can get any of it though, but I already 'ave somethin',"

"Oh goody!" Susan said, still twirling. "We must go now," she walked towards the door.

"Today?" Daniella asked.

"Yes, of course," Susan said.

"We have a lot to do," Fern added.

"So much to do…" Jackie said.

"So little time," Mel said, sighing.

"Bloody hell," Jess muttered, flopping back onto the couch.

'_Jess, get up, idiot. Or I'll_…' "Come on Jess, or I'll get you an orange dress," Mel said.

"What's wrong with orange?" Susan asked as Jess stared strangely at Mel.

"Oh, I just don't think it suits me…" Jess said, after a long pause.

…………………………………………..

The dressmaker was frustrated. Very frustrated. Six girls had pilled into her rooms, five of whom wanted some sort of ball gown. Full ball gowns. And they didn't seem to know who would be paying for it either. One of them was screaming so much she was amazed that the entire city hadn't run in, afraid that someone had been killed. Another was pouting in the corner, refusing to wear a dress. 'If she didn't want a dress, why on earth did she come then?' the dressmaker wondered. Another had gone through half her designs already and was saying no to every single one. Apparently, there was just something 'not quite right' about every one. One, the only one whom she seemed to recognise, looked at patterns and asked 'Does it come in pink?' The dress maker was trying very hard not to yell back 'Of course they come in pink! See the pink material? I am a dressmaker, I can make them out of any bloody material I want!' The last one who wanted a dress was standing very quietly in the corner, frequently rolling her eyes at her friends. The dress maker decided this may be the one to speak to.

"They always do this, to varying degrees," the girl said as she approached. "I'm Jess. Want some advice? Susan over there," she said, pointing, "likes poofy things, and her hair, anything in style she'll have an interest in," the dressmaker began to take notes. "Now Fern, she adores pink, minor obsession there, nothing too revealing, but she'll still want to seem 'sexy'…"

"Pardon?"

"She still wants to be impressive, to impress what's-his-name. Jackie, doesn't really like dresses, actually she hates them, more then I do, not bright colours or anything, no fancy trim."

"No trim?" the dressmaker gasped.

"No,"

"Oh dear,"

"And then there's Mel," she said, sighing, "she's complicated. She likes elegant, sophisticated dresses. She likes greens and reds. Takes a long time to make up her mind, so as soon as she tells you what dress she wants, start making it straight away so she can't change her mind, cause she'll feel too guilty making you change it,"

"Ok," the dressmaker said, looking down at her notes. "What about you?"

"Something simple, probably blue. No poof, clean lines,"

"For a ball?

"Make it simple ball,"

"Does that even exist?" Mel said, appearing next to Jess.

"It does now,"

"Alright," Mel said, disappearing back among the material samples.

"So, do you think you can do that?" Jess asked.

The dressmaker sat down and watched the girls, and began to draw.

……………………………………….

Elrond, Lord of all the realm and Master of Healing, and Glorfindel, Balrog slayer, were discussing wardrobes.

"I find that a light blue suits my complexion marvellously," Glorfindel said.

"You seem to wear it often,"

"Now that we're on the topic," Glorfindel said, "I must discuss with you Erestors' clothing choice for the forth coming ball,"

"Are you quite serious?" Elrond said, raising an eyebrow.

"Not really, though it is horrible,"

"I heard that!" Erestor said marching into the room.

"And what do you want?" Glorfindel said, addressing the Chief Councillor.

"I'm here to discuss our guests,"

"What about them?" Elrond asked.

………………………………………………

Jackie was reading a message from Elrond aloud to the group.

"_It has come to the attention of the Chief Councillor and I that thee may not be well versed in our culture and we have concluded that; if thou were so inclined to familiarise oneself with said culture, Lord Glorfindel puts himself at your disposal if you wish to learn about traditions associated with formal gatherings, such as the forthcoming ball, in thy honour. These include; formal dancing with partner, first and foremost our traditional dances; formal dining and the customs associated with such; presentation (introduction); traditional songs and poems as voiced after the main celebration. However, if thou so wishes, Chief Councillor Erestor is available for the teaching of history and such._

_Sincerely, _

_Master Elrond of Rivendell"_

Jackie looked up from what she had been reading, her eyes wide. "Does that say…?

"Formal dancing?" Mel exclaimed.

"I love dancing! Let's get jiggy with it!" Susan said.

"This, I fear, is mildly different," Mel replied.

"We've done formal dancing before, hello, for formal," Susan droned.

"I highly doubt dancing for formal, which was taken largely not seriously, is of the same calibre of that danced here,"

"Then, we have a problem," Jess said.

"What problem?" Fern asked.

"Can any of us really dance?"

"I don't think so,"

"Thus, the problem,"

………………………………………………

The library at Rivendell was gloriously empty as Glorfindel began to immerse himself in a book entitled 'There and back again', which, according to some friends it was a must read.

As he tilted the book to investigate the map provided in more detail, he heard footsteps, loud for an elf, yet quiet for a human. He felt someone sit down next to him and wait, what appeared patiently, for him to notice them. He looked up slowly, making sure to absorb all the information possible in preparation for his next attempt at reading.

Sitting next to him he saw one of the mysterious elflings. He had been introduced to them and he tried to recall her name. He'd perceived this one as more of a talker then a fighter, yet she possessed some skill in that area.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, and he saw her smooth the front of her dress down in what he supposed to be an unconscious gesture, perhaps to sooth nerves. "We, meaning myself and those others with whom I associate, have just received a message from Master Elrond where he states that you…"

"Oh, so you wish to learn how to dance," he said, interrupting.

"Yes," she replied, "since we are sure our styles are much different,"

………………………………………………

"So what type of dancing can you do?" Glorfindel asked the girls later that same day as they stood in an empty room.

"Tons," Susan said, and began to nut-bush, easily transitioning into the jive, partnerless, which changed to some head bopping type dance. Behind her; Jackie and Mel were doing a miniature version of the 'Staying Alive' dance; Fern twirled and Jess stood there awkwardly, refusing to do any sort of movement.

"We're screwed," Jess observed.

"I don't want to hear that defeatist attitude. I want to hear you upbeat," Fern said, turning to Jess.

"We're screwed!" Jess said, feigning cheerfulness.

"That's much better," Mel drawled.

"Alright, pair up and we shall start at the beginning. Now I have brought along some men to assist, as you are not meant to lead, and they may need the help if they plan to stay,"

The door to the room opened and in walked five men. Fern identified very easily as Rangers. One of whom was none other then James. She sighed, blushed and refused to meet his eyes as they stood in two lines facing each other.

Glorfindel began the music and pushed the two groups together. The rangers had some sort of rhythm, and knew the steps. Luckily, being Rangers, they knew how to lead, so the girls found themselves dancing quite easily as they were guided. That, however, doesn't mean feet weren't stood on. The Rangers were frequently wincing, though were much too tough to say anything. Though, after awhile one did react.

"Bloody hell girl! You're doing that on purpose!"

"So?" Jackie giggled.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Glorfindel demanded. "You must take this seriously! As the guests of honour you are expected to open the ball!"

"As in?" Fern inquired.

"The five of you are the first to dance!"

"Wait," Fern said suddenly realising what that implied, "Does that mean we are expected to have partners?"

"Of course,"

"What! A date!" Jackie squealed. Glorfindel nodded.

Jess paled considerably. Susan looked apprehensive. Fern was eyeing off one of the Rangers. Mel seemed to be going through some eternal struggle; she bit her lip, deep in thought. Jackie stared at Glorfindel, not sure how to react.

………………………………………

"Do it," Mel whispered, pushing Fern forwards.

"Go on then," Daniella said.

Fern discreetly looked around her, to determine if anyone else was there. There were only four people in the hallway. Mel and Daniella were pushing Fern towards James.

"Have some guts woman," Mel muttered.

"Mel," Fern warned, angry.

"Hello, James is it?" Mel said, ignoring her friend and walking up to the Ranger, pulling Fern behind her. "I'm Fern's friend, Melinda, you may call me Mel,"

"Hello Mel, Fern, Daniella," he said, smiling.

"Are you going to the ball next week?"

"Looking forward to it," he said, sounding very suggestive.

"Good, as Fern here…"

…………………………………………

"Hail, Prince Legolas of Mirkwood," King Aragorn of Gondor said as he lead the representatives of Gondor to the entrance of Rivendell, where a contingent of representatives from the realm of Mirkwood where approaching from the north.

"Hail Lord Aragorn of Gondor, and thy mighty Queen, Arwen of Gondor and Rivendell," Legolas said, returning his formal greeting.

"Hail brother," an elf, who resembled Legolas very closely, said from his place next to Legolas, to Aragorn.

"Hail brother," Aragorn replied.

They dismounted as they arrived at the entrance to Rivendell and exchanged greetings and embraces.

"And where is Gimli?" Aragorn asked his friend.

"Off digging some hole somewhere. He will be here shortly," Legolas replied. He laughed, hearing something the humans did not. "The twins are here,"

"Arwen! We…" Elrohir began.

"…missed you!" Elladan finished.

"What have these dreadful humans been doing to you?"

"They are a horrible influence on you, dear sister!"

"You should snatch her away," Legolas suggested.

"Oh indeed, take her off my hands," Aragorn said.

"I think father heard that," Arwen told him.

………………………………………

Music floated up the stairway, its calm sounds entering the loud antechamber which was filled with panic. Previously hidden and forgotten about insecurities were arising.

"Do I look alright?" Mel asked for the millionth time.

"No Mel, you look absolutely horrendous!" Jess snapped sarcastically.

"How kind," Mel muttered.

"Is my hair alright? I don't think it's poofy enough," Susan asked.

"I look crap," Jackie whined.

"You do not Jackie!" Fern insisted. "You all look perfectly fine," she was immediately assaulted with cries of 'No I don't'. "Oh would you all shut the hell up!" she bellowed. The others immediately went quiet. "Now we are going to go out there, descend those damn stairs, do a bloody dance and you're going to freaking enjoy it whether you like it or not!" she commanded.

"You tell 'em Fern!" Jess cheered.

"Oh shut up!"

"Well don't blame me then if you mysteriously get stabbed in your sleep," she muttered.

"Et tu Brutus?" Mel said, startled.

………………………………………

The doors loomed ominously in front of them. Next to them a herald stood in full finery, standing tall and clearing his throat, preparing. Torches burned slowly, crackling and creating small shadows. Susan shifted nervously, trying to calm her breathing. She looked around at the others. Jess was leaning against the wall muttering something under her breath. Jackie was sitting was on the floor, staring intently at the door, suddenly she smiled and visibly relaxed. Fern stood near Jess, trying not to bite her manicured nails, with little success. Mel was standing next to the herald, speaking extremely quickly and ultimately confusing the poor man.

"It's time," he said, breaking away from Mel.

The girls huddled together near the door.

"How do we…stand?" Mel asked.

"Any position,"

"Shotgun banister," Mel announced.

"Ditto," Jess added.

They immediately arranged themselves in some sort of order, with Mel and Jess on either side. Fern clasped Jackie's hand nervously.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes," Fern said after a moment.

The two great doors were pulled open…

A/N: Sorry for the long wait but Mel and I have been really busy with our last year at high school. The next chapter has been started but I'm not sure when we will have time to complete it as we have Exams coming up then schoolies and then get a job and then starting Uni…etc.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you could, Please review and give us some encouragement in writing some more!


	10. Chapter 10: Dancing in the Dark

**Chapter 10: Dancing in the Dark **

………………………………..

The two great doors were pulled open from the other side and, as one; the girls strode out to the small balcony at the head of the stairs. Below the stairs was a grand ballroom, with long tables branching off from a main one, resulting with a sort of upside-down u shape, with the stairs opening up at the empty space, facing the head table. The room grew silent. The herald standing behind them began the announcement:

"Master Elrond, allow me to present Lady Mydia Celebrindal," Mel curtsied as they had all been told, remaining in that stance as the herald continued, "Lady Siowiel Nólatári," Susan curtsied upon hearing her new elvish name, "Lady Galithralia Lúinwë," no one moved for a moment, until Fern nudged Jackie.

"What? Oh, that's me," she said, curtseying.

The herald raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "Lady Alatariel Linwëlin," Fern curtsied. And lastly, "Lady Nessa Sáralondë," and Jess curtsied, they remained that way for a moment, as was tradition, until Elrond rose.

"Welcome Mellon nins,"

"Did he just call us melons?" Jackie whispered as they rose as one.

"Err, no," Jess intoned.

"Were you not paying attention when they were teaching us elvish?" Mel hissed. Erestor, Elronds' Chief Advisor, had taken time to teach them basic elvish, enough for them to get through the ceremony and enough for their cover story, that they were elves from a small colony in the far south, to seem viable. Fern had already picked some up from her time in Rivendell, so learnt fairly well, she had always been strong in languages. Mel and Jess picked it up rather quickly, unlike Jackie and Susan who struggled, as was evident is Jackies' misinterpretation of 'mellon nins' as melon, rather then 'my friends'.

"No," Jackie said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Jess rolled her eyes and Mel turned away, placing her hand gracefully on the banister as Jess did the same. Music began playing as they all descended the grand staircase to where their dance partners stood, waiting, at the bottom of the stairs. The Rangers stood, smiling and held their hands out; the girls placed their hands in their partners' and were lead out onto the dance floor. All eyes were upon them. The music changed and they began to dance.

"Step, one, two, three," Mel was muttering, eyes closed as her partnered guided them both, gliding along the dance floor. Jackie and Fern were blushing a deep red, Ferns' eyes mesmerised by James' and her blush soon faded as all she could see was him. Susan had found some enthusiasm, enjoying the positive attention they were all receiving; she danced with her partner, almost leading him herself. Jess's eyes darted around the room nervously, her face pale. She noticed people she knew at the head table and received a comforting smile from Elladan. Further along she noticed Legolas and Gimli, Legolas's eyes seemed to be boring into her, then they moved slightly to her left, to where Mel was now dancing. Jess manoeuvred her partner towards them, much to his confusion.

"Mel," she hissed. "Legolas is plotting to murder your partner,"

"What?" Mel remarked as her partner paled. Jess rolled her eyes and allowed her partner to move them along.

……………………………………….

"So, what are we waiting for?" Gimli asked. Before Legolas could answer his friend, and elf next to Gandalf replied pompously.

"This is an introductory ball Master Dwarf, so we, of course, waiting for those that we are to be introduced to…" he was about to continue when the doors were pulled open.

"It's those young lasses again," Gimli observed. "They seem to have…matured…" he said.

"What young lasses?" Gandalf asked.

Gimli and Legolas did not reply. Erestor launched into a long-winded speech about the origins of the five girls standing before them.

"Lady Mydia…" the herald boomed. Legolas' eyes locked onto the girl that was politely curtseying, he took in the red gown and the dark hair, and then surveyed those standing with her, who were being introduced under grand Elven names. He instantly recognised the group. He had not been told who would be introduced at the ball, he only knew they were from a small colony in the south, instantly he knew that to be an un-truth, the girl in red was the one he had been teaching the bow to in Edoras, the one who had rode behind him from her captivity near Fangorn. His heart beat quickened as the ceremony continued, his breath felt as if it had been taken from him as he watched her descend the stairs and place her hand in that of a Ranger, for a moment his eyes flicked to Aragorn whom he uncharacteristically glared at, muttering about 'damn Rangers' before looking back to her, who was now gliding across the dance floor. He proceeded to glare at the Ranger whom she danced with.

"So laddie, jealous?" Gimli grinned up at Legolas.

"Most certainly not!"

"Ahh, but you knew what I was talking about," Legolas turned to glare at Gimli for a moment, before looking back. He saw the blonde practically drag her partner over to where Mel danced and whisper something inaudible before allowing her partner to guide her away. He saw Mel's eye flash towards him and he quickly turned to Gimli and said, quite loudly:

"Oh you're quite correct," Gimli laughed heartily. "Not about that dwarf!"

"Am I missing something here?" Gandalf questioned looking between Legolas and Gimli.

"Well, you see…" Gimli began.

"Quiet dwarf before I steal your box!"

……………………………………

The music stopped and they took their seats at the head table, as they had been instructed. Elrond stood, "Let the feast begin!"

……………………………………

Jess leaned across Mel's dance partner to talk to her friend.

"He hasn't taken his eyes off you all night, mind you we've only been here half an hour, but still…"

"What are you on about woman?" Mel demanded.

"Legolas, duh," Jess replied rolling her eyes.

"The prince?" Mel's dance partner asked.

"You know it's rude to listen in to other people's conversations," Jess said as the same time that Mel said:

"Excuse me, private conversation here!" Mel said, sneering.

Elladan looked up from his plate, "We can hear you also,"

"Well you're not supposed to be listening!" Mel sneered.

"It would be good to quell rumours that he is gay however," Elrohir commented. His brother raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, it would,"

"It does not help that it you who originally began those rumours!"

…………………………………………………….

"They're looking at us again," Gimli noticed.

"What?" Legolas asked.

"I thought you were meant to be the intelligent race,"

"Well, Master Dwarf," Erestor said, leaning across Gandalf, who sat between the two. "We elves…" he continued, though Gimli paid no attention.

"So, you gonna get the lass?" Legolas appeared shocked at that remark.

"Gimli, the elven method of courtship is entirely different. It is a long process designed to understand the others soul," Gandalf told him.

"Who ever said anything about courting?"

"Gimli, I would appreciate if you desisted from such comments, they are entirely inappropriate and disrespectful," Legolas told him.

"Sorry my friend," Gimli said. "I misunderstood,"

………………………………………………

"Ahh, James," Fern sighed, again, as the girls all sat in a corner.

"Bloody men," Mel muttered, pouting, as Legolas waltzed by, seemingly ignoring her.

"Hmm," Jess got up suddenly, inspired, and walked across to the elven twins. Mel glared at her retreating back muttering something like 'abandon me, why don't you,'

Further along Jackie was talking to Gimli, seemingly plotting something sinister. Susan waltzed by, again, a gigantic grin plastered upon her face.

"Damn men," Mel muttered again and took a swig from some sort of elvish wine.

The door to the hall burst open and the heads of inquisitive elves turned to see what the commotion was. There stood a lone elf, "Lord Elrond, orcs are marching on the battlements!"

"To arms!"

………………….

The girls gathered together watching in shock as elf and human alike sprinted past them. The normally tranquil Rivendell was suddenly amassed with troops. Whilst many were not going to fight they had other duties they were able to attend to. The five girls were the only ones that had nothing in which they ought to do.

"We should help them," Jess insisted, constantly turning to the room's exits.

"Realistically, what would we be able to achieve? We haven't fought alongside these people before, we would get in the way," Mel told her, and them all.

"We could get injured, we'd be no help then. I can heal…I'll be needed," Fern enlightened them.

"You can heal? You mean Lord Elrond taught you about his medicines?"

Fern shook her head. "It's more like a skill. Elrond mentioned it; he said that the strange force that pulled us here, that we shouldn't be in this place, and that we may be different…but I didn't want to…"

"Why not?" Susan burst in. "Something ELCE has happened to us and you don't mention it! Has anyone else noticed this?"

"Jessie's wolf thingy…" Jackie suggested.

"Beastspeaking," Mel sniggered.

"Anyone else?" Susan demanded.

Everyone remained silent. Jackie refused to meet the others eyes, and rocked on her feet; whilst Mel boldly stared Susan down, making the others glad that their loudest two didn't get into a debate.

The thoughts of all but one moved back to their original conundrum. They all wanted to help, but two had concerns and fears that stopped them from running blindly into the fray. One of the girls was unsure about either course of action.

"I want to help," Jackie said.

"We were given weapons, why not use them?" Jess argued. "We have learnt so many things so unbelievably fast, we're adapting to the strangeness of this world. I feel I have been here my entire life, we are now apart of this world…"

"We're these Elfling things…" Jackie cut in, adding her own point.

"Yes," Jess looked determined. "I'm going out there,"

"Wait," Mel insisted, stopping Jess in her tracks as she moved. "We don't do this half-hearted. We do this together. No matter how much we've assimilated into this place, we still remain outsiders," she closed her eyes to help her think. "We didn't grow up in a society where one arms them self as a matter of fact," in her mind she saw her bow and quiver, sitting up in the room she and Jess now shared, just itching to be used, but the fear she was feeling had her stomach in knots. She realised her mind had been straying when she heard a voice, the voice of the person her thoughts had gone to, a person who was now far away. She opened her eyes looking for him, but he wasn't there, but his voice remained in her head, even quieter then usual, but harder, less filtered.

_"…over there, that tree…is that…one…string…aim…another? Must stop before they get in…before they…SWORD! Move, move, move!" _

Nobody else had heard what she heard, her mind told her it wasn't the normal elven advancements, such as the one that improved her eyesight so long ago. 'Changes?' she pondered. Suddenly her fear was irrelevant.

"We should help them. Fend off the horde…Fern, perhaps the infirmary will need your recently acquired skills in the art of healing."

Jess smiled. "To arms then!" she revelled, as she turned and ran for the exit. Jackie, Fern and Mel would join her within moments, with Fern breaking off from the group almost immediately and heading for the familiar infirmary. None of them noticed that Susan did not follow.

………………………………..

Susan wondered if she was having a panic attack. The fashion focus of the last few weeks had occupied her brain every waking moment. She had not listened as they were taught the language, the culture, the history. She did not watch as Jess, Mel and Jackie practiced at weaponry and tactics with a giggly, yet nervous Fern looking on. The strangeness and danger of this world was beginning to overwhelm her again, and had at last caught up with her. She ran from the room, searching for a place to hide.

……………….

Elladan and Elrohir were firing arrows off a balcony that overlooked the forest that the orcs were threading their way through, and where much of the fighting was occurring. The skirmishes were more difficult then they had been lately, they appeared almost organised again.

"Perhaps they have a new master," Elladan suggested.

"But whom? Would a man be able to command them?" his brother thought for a moment. "Has Gandalf been keeping an eye on his fellows?"

"Personally, I've always felt what's-his-face the Brown was a bit iffy,"

Mel appeared next to where they crouched behind the latticing that served as a banister, bow in hand and a quiver of arrows on her back; she still wore her blood-red dress, but now with a hooded charcoal cloak; so that only glimpses of the bold material could be seen; her dark eyes glistening in the darkness as she gazed through the lattice at the field before them.

"How's it going?"

"It's hard to tell…no sign of Urak-hi, or any archers…what are you doing here?"

"Helping," Mel insisted as she fired a perfectly aimed arrow at an orc that had made it past the tree line. The twins gave her questioning looks. "We had a discussion and everything,"

"The others?" Elladan inquired, his usual jovial self appearing concerned.

"Jess and Jackie are down there somewhere, playing at heroes. Fern went straight to the infirmary…do you know anything about…" Mel said, her thoughts wandering.

"What?"

"Don't worry,"

………………………………..

They ducked and weaved through the twisting and turning bowels of the forest as they searched for the battle that was occurring at the mysterious 'battlements' of Rivendell, the mystical border of the land generally protected by Elrond. They would have been trampled by a startled horse if not for Jess's recently discovered and quickly developing (secretly) beastspeaking skills. Jess calmed the horse and inquired of it the location and attributes of the fighting. They ran to join the others immediately, turning this way and that until Jackie, reacting to the feeling in the pit of her stomach, drew her sword and held it in the air defensively moments before the sword of an orc crashed against it. Jess helped her friend as she struggled against the creature, swiping at him with her twin long daggers. Task completed they moved on to aid their new friends.

...

Fern ran the distance to the infirmary, having taken a moment to pull a simple coat over her dress. She didn't want that moment of personal time to make her arrive too late to save someone, or to help at all.

Elrond spun when he heard her arrive, a sad smile upon his face. "Many thanks child. Hopefully your assistance will not be required. They usually do not get past our protections however...I am waiting for assistance; otherwise I fear any attempt on my part to rid them from this land will be dangerous. Help prepare the kits with the others please,"

She put herself to work immediately, glad and eager to help. Her conscious would not allow her to sit back when there was work to be done.

...

She ran, just for the sake of running, to clear her thoughts and to get away from everything. The excitement of a ball and everything associated with had given her focus, but now her world was beginning to crash down around her. She hadn't settled in as easy as the others in this weird world, she'd never lived in a fantasy world before, as she'd noticed the others sometimes did. She needed to breathe and just be her, alone, and human. She stopped and leaned against a pillar, feeling herself begin to sob. She slid down until she was on the ground, her legs pulled up close to her body as she tried to control herself. She tried to sing her favourite dance tunes, even get a bit of sit down dancing going, but it was to no avail.

"Miss?" she heard a soft male voice enquire. "Is something amiss?"

She looked up at him, "we're being attacked by nightmarish creatures...or did you miss the memo?"

He appeared mildly confused, but quickly moved past it, "are you afraid?"

"Yes," she admitted. "And now my friends have gone running off to help, they're CRAZY! It's not like this is our fight..."

"Ahh, are you the southern elves who were introduced tonight?"

"Yes," she admitted, looking at him and enjoying his bright eyes. "Where you there?" she asked, wondering if he had seen her spectacular dance moves and general awesomeness.

"Alas, I was not, though if I'd know you were present I would have leaped mountains in order to get there,"

She blushed, not knowing what to say in response to his flirtation, so she looked down towards the ground. Whilst she wasn't looking he took the opportunity to look at an orb hidden beneath the numerous folds of his cloak, he put his hand on it and sent a message.

...

Author Note:

_Thanks to all our wonderful and ever patient readers. Particularly to our reviewers for the last chapter: __Aryiana and Merrymow – cookies all round. _

_Reviews? _


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